The Joy of Spicy Cheese

Spicy food is hot! To see how viral hot food can be, check out the spicy cheese ramen videos that rack up millions of views. Just how popular is spicy food? According to market research firm Daymon’s March 2024 Flavor Study, 84% of consumers reported eating spicy food.

While pepper jack is probably the most ubiquitous spicy cheese, there are plenty of other options. Some are spiced with milder chiles like jalapenos, while others go to the end of the spice spectrum with Carolina Reaper peppers. We spoke with cheesemakers and retailers to learn more about spicy cheese and share their favorites. Read more about the origins of Monterey Jack.

 

Why Spicy Cheese?

What makes cheese and spice work so well together? Eric Ludy, Co-Founder and President of Wisconsin-based Cheese Brothers, explains that typically when you eat something spicy, you usually drink some milk to tame the spice. “There is something satisfying about pairing the fat, and it’s the same with cheese,” Ludy says, “with the fattiness of the cheese, the depth of flavor of the cheese, that that thing that causes all to be addicted to cheese, you add spice and just gives it just an extra bite. That extra something that just keeps you coming back for more.” There’s that mix of pain and pleasure that makes an addictive product even more addictive.

J. Dennis Shisler, President and CEO of retailer Shisler Cheese House, shares that people like variety with their cheese. Spice, he says, “just gives it a nice spin.” He also points out that some people prefer heat; some come from food cultures with a lot of spice while others get endorphins from eating spicy food (or a combination of both).

 

Cheese Brothers Chile Cheeses

Ludy shares that ten years ago his company recognized a gap in the market when it came to spice and cheeses. Seeing that there wasn’t a lot of spicy cheese available they decided to make their own versions. Ludy notes that there was possibly a misperception that people in the Midwest did not like spice, so most cheesemongers did not introduce it into their cheeses.

But that helped make Cheese Brothers’ cheese stand out, especially with cheeses with very spicy peppers, like the scorpion pepper, which is high on the Scoville Scale (Scoville is the measure of units that spice is measured). In making blocks of cheese, Cheese Brothers introduces the spices after the curds are made. The cheese curds are put into a tumbler which coats them all with the spice mix. Then the spiced curds are pressed into blocks to age and cure.

Cheese Brothers initially started with gouda because it is a “a blank canvas that lends itself really well to all sorts of different flavors, including spices.” They first released the 3 Amigos Spicy Gouda, which blends jalapeno, habanero and chipotle peppers together with the gouda cheese. He notes that cheese curds work with different kinds of spice blends too.

Today there are more spicy cheeses on the market but Ludy notes that consumers’ spice preferences have changed. Ten years ago, sriracha was super popular, now hatch pepper is the “hot thing.”

 

Currently, Cheese Brothers offers a range of spicy cheeses including Honey Sriracha Gouda, Pepper Jack, and El Diablo, which contains scorpion pepper. They recently introduced the Jalapeno Golden Baked Bliss, a flavored bread cheese, which is intended to be heated up to bring out the gooey, buttery spice.

But Ludy points out that they do not make cheeses spicy just for the sake of being spicy. Adding something spicy, whether it’s jalapeno or scorpion pepper, should make the underlying cheese more interesting, not overpower it. While customers have told Cheese Brothers that they could make their scorpion pepper cheese even more spicy, they refuse since the flavor must come first. Ludy point out that while the scorpion pepper is extremely spicy, it’s also got a sweetness to it. Ludy explains, “ I think it’s super important that it’s not just an assault. It’s more of a flavor experience.”

To add to the spicy cheese experience, Ludy recommends the New Glarus Brewing Company’s Spotted Cow, a classic Wisconsin beer with any of the cheeses. Ludy prefers a lager with the spicy cheese since it is light, refreshing and crisp. Indian Pale Ales could also work with spicy food. He’d avoid any beer that’s too dense, dry or heavy with the spice.

For food pairings, they carry pepper jams made from Beloit, WI based Bushel & Pecks that work well with the spicy cheeses, as long as the peppers don’t clash. For instance, he recommends the 3 Amigos Spicy Gouda with the blueberry pepper jam. Similarly, he suggests pairing their Jalapeno Baked Bliss with some sweet jam. It could be made into a dip with some salsa or marinara sauce, or stay with the sweetness of the jam.

 

Beehive Chile Cheeses

Uintah, UT, based Beehive Cheese has also sold spicy cheese for over a decade. Their spiciest cheese is Big John’s Cajun. It came from a partnership with a local restaurant. Beehive started selling their cheese directly to the restaurant, where Chef John Dearmin made a spice mix to rub on ribs. Dearmin thought it might work well with Beehive’s Promontory, a Cheddar. Beehive had already begun rubbing mixes onto its cheeses like Barely Buzzed, which contains a coffee rub, and Seahive, which has salt and honey.

So, Beehive decided to try it out. Chef Dearmin brought a bag of spices which they used to rub on the cheese. And it worked. For two years, that’s how they made it from Chef Dearmin’s special recipe which was rubbed onto the cheese. Eventually, Chef Dearmin gave the recipe to Beehive so they could label ingredients. The cheese was named to honor him. Katie Schall, marketing director at Beehive, says Big John’s Cajun is her favorite. She shares that it tastes like pepperoni pizza and notes that it’s popular locally, but that they do sell it nationally.

 

Beehive’s other spicy cheese is their Red Butte Hatch Chile. That came out of another partnership, this time with Harmons Grocery, a local grocery chain in Utah, that holds a hatch chili festival every August/September. Beehive started making the cheese with them and it was very successful. It’s their second best-selling cheese nationally. They source their hatch chiles from New Mexico. The name comes from Utah’s landscape with its famous red buttes. “We thought the rind looked nice and beautiful, like sandstone,” explains Schall.

When asked about the popularity of hatch chiles, Schall says the chiles are tumbled into the paste of the cheese, rather than rubbed on, lending a more peppery taste like an artisan type pepper jack cheese. Consumers know what a pepper jack cheese tastes like so they know that they’ll get a higher quality “pepper jack” with the Red Butte.

“I think spiced cheeses in general are probably one of the best-selling flavored cheeses that you can find. I think that the consumer is most familiar with it, rather than TeaHive (a Cheddar rubbed with Earl Grey). That is a harder sell and it’s kinda unusual,” she says.

Like Ludy, she also recommends a pilsner for the Big John’s Cajun. She explains that because it’s a spicier cheese, you do not want to pair it with a hoppy beer since the bitterness would not pair well with the spice. Some people do like the extra bitter, but Schall prefers something with a bit more malt. For the Red Butte Hatch, she recommends a hazy IPA since the cheese is not as spicy.

One could try Wallenpaupack Brewing Company’s Largemouth Hazy IPA or Hodad’s Brewing Company’s Hesher Hazy IPA, which both won gold in the 2024 New York International Beer Competition.

For wine options, cava, Champagne or any sparkling wine could go well with both. “The crispiness of the wine really cuts through the buttery creaminess of the cheese,” Schall explains.

With food pairings, Schall suggested an heirloom tomato jam with cumin in it to go with the Red Bute Hatch. For Big John Cajun, she recommended sweeter combinations, like honey or fig jam. Citrusy marmalade would also go well with both.

 

Chile Cheddars and Blue Cheese

Family-owned Shisler’s Cheese House in Orrville, Ohio, sells a variety of cheeses from small producers across the state and beyond. They sell various cheeses with ghost pepper, scorpion pepper, and Hennings Mango Fire Cheddar, which uses habanero. They also sell Carolina Reaper Cheddar, named for the hottest of chiles.

Troyer Cheese makes the cheese, and Shisler decided to offer it to its customers, pointing out that dairy will mellow out the spiciness. Even with a pepper that is off the charts in Scoville units, the dairy will help reduce the intensity of the pepper.

 

Another fascinating recommendation from Shisler is Carr Valley Glacier Wildfire Blue Cheese. In general, blue cheese is less likely to be flavored. Shisler shares that it’s not a very spicy cheese compared to some of the others: “It’s medium hot. From my perspective, blue cheese is already very bold flavored so [the spice] adds a finish to it.”

With respect to pairings, Shisler recommends a stout or IPA with the Reaper. “When you start talking about anything that’s bold and flavored, you got to match it with something that is more bold and flavored,” he said. He recommended a local brewery Brew Kettle that has an IPA called White Raja, which pairs well with spicy cheese. With respect to Pilsners, he thinks the spicy cheeses would mask the flavor. For food, he recommends cashews or dried cherries or apricots with spicier cheeses.